Written by: Brooks Wachtel
Continuing from Part 3, the X-Men are shocked when Shi'ar Empress Lilandra has declared that Jean must perish as she has become the Dark Phoenix, the destroyer of legend, and cites the D'Bari star system's destruction by the Dark Phoenix as reason for the declaration that Jean must be executed for the good of all. However, Professor X, scanning Lilandra's mind, finds an ancient Shi'ar ritual he invokes, the Trial of Combat, pitting the X-Men against Gladiator and his Imperial Guard for custody of Jean. If the X-Men win, Jean is theirs to deal with regarding the Dark Phoenix. However, if the Imperial Guard wins, Jean must die. Lilandra approves of the challenge, and as the X-Men prepare on Lilandra's ship, Jean dresses in her old Marvel Girl outfit again for the occasion. Meanwhile, Professor X tries to find another option when he creates a psychic illusion for him and Lilandra to talk in, only for Lilandra to appear in her battle armor and tell him that there is no other option before banishing him from the illusion.
The Trial of Combat soon gets underway, but it is clear that the X-Men, despite their best efforts, are no match for the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. One by one, they are defeated and knocked out cold, until only Cyclops and Jean are left. After hiding themselves and discussing some final thoughts with each other, the two lovers charge out, but when Cyclops is incapacitated and falls unconscious next to Jean, the stress causes the Dark Phoenix to awaken again, easily taking out the Imperial Guard. Lilandra immediately orders the weapons on her cruiser armed and aimed at Jean, but Xavier psychically disarms the weapon systems to stall for time as he psychically tells the X-Men to awaken and stop the Dark Phoenix.
It is only after dropping a huge slab of stone debris on the Dark Phoenix that she is weakened enough from blasting out that Jean regains control, but knowing that the Dark Phoenix is too dangerous to be kept alive, Jean decides she had to die for the good of everyone, and runs to a clearing where, after psychically restoring Lilandra's weapons to full power, Jean braces herself as Lilandra fires the main cannon, and the Dark Phoenix is engulfed in the beam, taking the full brunt of it, as Cyclops watches helplessly from a safe distance. On Lilandra's ship, Professor X senses for Jean's life force, but finds nothing...She's gone. Lilandra also cries at having been the one to kill Jean to save so many others.
When Lilandra and Xavier join the X-Men at the crater where Jean perished, Cyclops and Wolverine are about ready to tear Lilandra apart for murdering Jean when there could have been another way, when the Phoenix Force emerges, having been restored to the celestial guardian it originally was thanks to Jean's sacrifice, which has purged the Phoenix Force of the darkness that turned it into the Dark Phoenix. Revealing Jean's lifeless body, the Phoenix Force reveals that Jean can be revived, but at the cost of someone else giving up their life for hers. Cyclops and Wolverine both volunteer, until the Phoenix Force explains that each of the X-Men can give a part of their flame of life to restore Jean's, even if it means their own lifespans are shortened as a result. Accepting the offer, the X-Men form a circle around Jean, as the Phoenix Force sends a small orb of light through each of them to collect the flame of life from them to then imbue in Jean's body, restoring her to life with a pained cry. As the X-Men are relieved that Jean is back and alive once more, her job done, the Phoenix Force transports the X-Men back to the War Room of the X-Mansion, while Lilandra herself returns to the Shi'ar homeworld after mentally saying goodbye to Xavier, hoping to see him again.
For the X-Men, especially Jean, a long nightmare is finally over.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adapted Out:
- In the original story, one of the conditions for the Kree and Skrulls signing off on the duel was to have two of their own take part, only for both soldiers to get caught up in fighting one another rather than the X-Men. This is left out.
- Since the fight takes place on the Moon, right next to the home of the Watcher, he briefly gets involved when Wolverine accidentally stumbles into his house, and closed out the original story with a monologue about Jean's death. Both are excised.
- In the original story, Cyclops wonders if Jean manipulated the whole situation with the duel so she could die while her mind was still intact. Here, however, the situation is just an unfortunate pile-up of circumstances.
- Adaptation Expansion: The scene of Charles and Lilandra's discussion in their minds isn't present in the comics.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The comic Shi'ar had the slightly more justifiable grounds for going after Phoenix because she had killed, wiping out most of the D'bari race and then the crew of the Shi'ar cruiser that witnessed this, and there was no guarantee Jean wouldn't go on another rampage again (especially since Chris Claremont's intention was for the Dark Phoenix to become a recurring antagonist, which would've made them absolutely right). Here, they're going after her for crimes she might commit in the future.
- Batman Gambit: Oracle could sense Rogue hiding in the ruins, so she deliberately flew in clear view to lure her into the open and take her by surprise. And Gladiator is waiting right at where Rogue crashes.
- Berserk Button: Jean loses all control after Cyclops is struck down.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jean is alive and recovering, but Xavier and Lilandra's own relationship has been somewhat strained.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The X-Men fight for Jean because she is innocent in all this and shouldn't be judged by possible future crimes of the Phoenix. The Shi'ar want to kill Jean because of The Needs of the Many. The X-Men's argument becomes moot, though, when the Phoenix emerges again.
- Bowdlerization: In the comics, Warstar's offer to their opponents was an offer of honorable surrender or death. Here, the death part is left out.
- The Cameo: The Supreme Intelligence and Skrull empress when Lilandra informs them of Xavier's challenge.
- The Chains of Commanding: At one point when Xavier is distraught over the fate of his X-Men, Lilandra's advisor asks why she doesn't go to him. She replies with "The part of me that is woman wants to comfort him with every breath I take, but an empress must be made of steel even at the cost of her heart."
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Despite their best efforts, the X-Men are slowly overcome by the Imperial Guard.
- The Dark Phoenix to the Imperial Guard, particularly Gladiator.
- Death Is Cheap: Jean dies, but the Phoenix Force (free of emotion and back to normal) offers to rekindle her life force. Each of the X-Men agree to give up a portion of their own life in order to restore Jean.
- Despair Event Horizon: Jean after regaining some control after the Dark Phoenix curb-stomps the Imperial Guard. She realizes the Phoenix is too powerful to ever control or contain and begs Cyclops to kill her.Jean: I can't fight it! Not every second of every day, never slipping not even for an instant. Scott, please, do it!
- Dies Differently In The Adaptation: Comic Jean blasted herself with a BFG which was nearby (and apparently still In Working Order). Here, she's instead blasted with the main guns of Lilandra's ship.
- Divide and Conquer: The X-Men's plan was to split up into smaller groups and pick off their foes in hit-and-run attacks. Unfortunately for them, the Imperial Guard had the same idea and are better at it.
- Do Not Go Gentle: Hiding from the Imperial Guard, Jean can tell the others have been defeated. Both she and Cyclops know the chances of winning are next-to-none now, but they prefer to go down fighting rather than just surrender or despair.
- Driven to Suicide: Jean begs Cyclops to kill her, but he can't, so she telekinetically activates the weapons on the Shi'ar ship so that she can be in a position to get blasted.
- I Warned You: Lilandra didn't want Xavier to invoke the challenge because it would compound the tragedy. Instead of one student simply being killed, all of his students would now be risking that. As the fights rage, Xavier is devastated to see his students getting beaten.
- It Has Been an Honor: Ahead of the expected final fight:Cyclops: Jean, there's so much I feel, so much we haven't done, so much I wanna say to you.
Jean: Where I'm concerned, it's the thought that counts and yours, like you, are beautiful. - More Hero than Thou: Cyclops volunteers to sacrifice his entire life force in order to restore Jean. Wolverine does the same and both argue which of them gets to actually do it. The Phoenix Force then informed them that they can Take a Third Option, saying it needn't be from a single individual, but from as many as needed. All the X-Men offer to give up a bit of their own life force to revive Jean.
- The Needs of the Many: Lilandra argues that countless beings throughout the universe will be at risk if the Phoenix isn't killed.
- Never Say "Die": Downplayed. Everyone acknowledges that Jean will die if the X-Men lose the challenge, but words like "death" and "die" are ignored in favor of "destroyed" or such.
- Power Incontinence: Well, it's not her own power since the Phoenix is a separate entity, but Jean still feels this way in the end. Any attempt to exert control is just feeble in the long run.
- The Power of Friendship: What makes the other X-Men stand with Jean, even with billions of lives possibly at risk.
- The Power of Love: What makes Cyclops and Wolverine stand with Jean.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The look on Lilandra's face after Xavier tells her she's won.
- Shooting Superman: As Gladiator points out to Rogue, she already knows she can't beat him in a fair fight. But she's still going to try anyway.
- Shoot the Dog: Once again, neither Wolverine nor Cyclops can bring themselves to do this, but the Shi'ar can.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The Phoenix willingly separates from Jean and revives her, allowing both to survive. The original comic had Jean pull a Heroic Suicide to take both of them out.
- Third-Person Person: Starbolt may be prone to this, if one of his lines is any indication."You have angered Starbolt!"
- Vocal Dissonance: The Supreme Intelligence is, per the comics, a gestalt entity made from the greatest minds of the Kree... but it sounds like an ordinary office worker. Compare that to the Skrull Empress, who sounds more like Sauron (the pterodactyl man, not the LOTR villain).
- Why Isn't It Attacking?: When Professor X calls out for the trial, the Imperial Guard's sudden halt confuses Storm and Wolverine.Storm: They stopped. Why?Wolverine: Maybe they wanna live a little longer.
- Worthy Opponent:
- The Kree Supreme Intelligence notes that humans are stubborn, but honorable, and therefore doesn't object to the trial by combat.
- While facing Wolverine, Manta compliments him for his loyalty to Jean and admits it speaks well for humanity.
- You Shall Not Pass!: The X-Men prepare to do this at the start of the episode when the Imperial Guard approaches to get Jean. Xavier resolves this temporarily by enacting the challenge.
